Back to Afghanistan: “The Kill Team” Resurrects America’s War Crimes

Back to Afghanistan: "The Kill Team" Resurrects America's War Crimes

Just when you thought the war in Afghanistan was a distant memory, "The Kill Team" (opening in theaters on July 25) reminds us that America’s military missteps in the country remain an open wound. I have been covering and heralding the movie since its 2013 Tribeca Film Festival premiere, where it won best documentary feature. I worry that Americans’ taste for tales of Afghanistan and Iraq have long reached capacity, but "The Kill Team" is essential viewing–a potent reminder of how quickly morality becomes muddied in a war zone.

"Dan Krauss’s well-crafted and compelling investigative expose The Kill Team hits all the right buttons: political injustice, moral outrage, and emotional catharsis. The film goes behind the scenes of the infamous “Kill Team,” members of a U.S. Army infantry platoon who were arrested and convicted for killing innocent civilians in Afghanistan. The focal point of the story becomes the case of private Adam Winfield, a whistleblower who may have been a willing participant in the murders. Structuring the film around Winfield’s trial in a U.S. military court, Krauss raises concerns about the fairness of a case being mounted by those who have a vested interest in how the results will reflect back on the Army. Is Winfield a scapegoat or a killer? What makes The Kill Team more than just another story of U.S. military iniquity is that the answer is probably both."